As soon as the news came out that Nettuno Baseball had acquired Ademar Rifaela, the discussion broke loose in a Dutch baseball group on Twitter. Was this allowed or not? The manager of Curaçao Neptunus stated it wasn’t and eventually he was right.
According to baseballmania.eu, the Dutch baseball federation KNBSB has not issued the transfer from Quick Amersfoort to Nettuno. Since Rifaela is a member of team Kingdom of the Netherlands, he must be available to participate in training sessions. If he would join Nettuno of the Italian Serie A, this would not be possible according to the manager of Curaçao Neptunus. The KNBSB wasn’t available to comment on the issue.
Batting average-wise, Rifaela did not impress during the 2020 hoofdklasse season but he clearly has some pop in his bat as he proved during the 2019 European Championship. Apparently, Nettuno Baseball already had a hunch that the transfer might be cancelled. As a result, they acquired slugger Quincy Latimore, who played for the Atlantic League’s Highpoint Rockers. With the Rockers, he hit 21 jacks and drove in 72 runs in 111 at-bats.
The question remains where Rifaela will go now. Will he return to Quick Amersfoort or will he return to Curaçao? It is all up in the air right now.
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